The brightest take on this week’s science

For men over 50, an enlarged prostate is a common problem.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have now found a possible cause hiding around the urethra.

The team analyzed the genes that were switched on in nearly 130,000 cells from a small group of 10 men.

They found a new subtype called WIF1+ basal cells packed into the transition zone, right where enlargement in the prostate usually begins.

These cells also seem to be more common in enlarged prostate tissue.

The cells carry molecular features tied to tissue remodeling, the kind that could help a gland expand.

If the cells really are involved in prostate enlargement, they could one day become targets for new drugs.

Read more.

A dog's head on your knee can make a bad day feel a little better.

Now, researchers in Austria have tested whether touch is part of the reason.

They put 64 dog owners through timed quizzes and mental arithmetic, then gave them a 5-minute break.

During this break, some were able to pet their dog, but others had their dogs leashed out of reach.

In a second round of tests, the owners who had touched their dogs during the break showed lower physical signs of stress in their hearts and brains.

This doesn't mean petting a dog sped up recovery from stress; the owners' own stress ratings didn't reflect the change.

Still, the body seemed to notice even when the mind didn't.

A quick pat may be a small buffer against whatever comes our way next.

Read more.

A) Cactus hair
B) Eyelash follicle
C) Tardigrade claw
D) Wart

Answer at the bottom.

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A wanted poster only works if everyone knows the face they're looking for.

Now, a personalized mRNA vaccine has put that idea to work against melanoma.

Each vaccine is built from the patient's own tumor, showing the immune system exactly which cells to attack.

When given alongside the immunotherapy Keytruda to more than a thousand patients, it cut the risk of melanoma returning or causing death by 42 percent compared with Keytruda alone.

This doesn't mean it will work for every cancer: similar mRNA vaccines for colorectal and head and neck cancers recently failed to reduce recurrence.

Still, the melanoma results are now under regulatory review.

In Australia, where one person dies of melanoma every 6 hours, that review can't come soon enough.

Read more.

No modern amphibian lives in the ocean, as salt is bad news for porous skin.

But Gerrothorax maritimus, pictured above, seems to have spent its whole life at sea about 237 million years ago, wrapped in plates of armor.

Talk about a thick skin.

Read more about it here.

Just in time for Halloween, here's a dead star that would glow an eerie shade of green if we could see it up close.

Read more about this ghoulish find here.

Microscope answer: Eyelash follicle.

This is an eyelash growing out of its follicle, magnified about 400 times. The pink strand is the lash itself, and the crumpled layers around it are flakes of skin lining the opening it grows from.